After Court Ruling For CNN, Scaramucci Sides With Acosta: ‘Bad Strategy’ For Trump to Fight Media

Today, a federal judge ordered the White House to reinstate CNN correspondent Jim Acosta‘s press pass, and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said he disagreed with the Trump administration’s decision to revoke Acosta’s credentials because it made the CNN reporter a “martyr.”

“I disagree with the president on this strategy with the media,” Scaramucci said. “I would have never revoked his press pass. I would have argued against it. I’m certain that members of his staff that have strong personalities went to the president and said, ‘We should not be revoking this guy’s press pass.’”

I asked Anthony, who was replaced by former Fox News executive Bill Shine, if he thought mainstream media has shown a double standard in how it has rallied behind CNN’s Jim Acosta and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, even though both men were accused of physically brushing off young women in the workplace. CNN sued to get Acosta his press pass back to the White House, with CNN reporting outlets like the Associated Press, Fox News, NBC News, Gannett, Politico, USA Today and the New York Times issuing statements of support to CNN. However, supporters of the president argue that case law clearly shows that there is no guaranteed First Amendment right to access the White House, which can ban disruptive, unprofessional individuals who impede the orderly process of a press conference.

Anthony said he believes there is a double standard against Republicans like President Trump, but that doesn’t excuse an ongoing, confrontational stance against the national press corps.

“I don’t like the war against the media,” he said. “I think it is a very, very bad strategy for the President of the United States to be in a heavy, deep, escalating war with the media.”

Comments

Carrie Sheffield is the founder of Bold. She is passionate about storytelling to empower and connect others. A founding POLITICO reporter, Carrie contributed on political economy at Forbes and wrote editorials for The Washington Times. After earning a master’s in public policy from Harvard University, she managed credit risk at Goldman Sachs and researched for American Enterprise Institute scholar Edward Conard. She earned a B.A. in communications at Brigham Young University and completed a Fulbright fellowship in Berlin.